Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently came out with a new book, "This Used To Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back."

Within the book, Friedman outlines four great challenges facing the U.S., globalization, the revolution in information technology, chronic deficits, and a pattern of excessive energy consumption.

Describing himself as a "frustrated optimist," Friedman spends much of the book discussing the hyper-partisanship on Capitol Hill, describing Washington as being systemically paralyzed. He argues that the U.S. needs a "shock to the system" to change this system, specifically, a third party candidate.

Today on American Morning, Friedman joins Ali Velshi to place his book in context with the jobs crisis and to weigh in on what the country needs right now, both in leadership style and in legislative substance.

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